It's that time! Time for my first real post live from Legon, Ghana! … It’s long… but it’s worth it

I left Toronto on Friday June 4th after being dropped off by Jake. The flights were.... interesting. Eight of us flew with Delta, which I have coined The World's Worst Airline. After flying from Toronto to JFK in New York, we were directed towards the gate where we sat with 200 other passengers. We were not assigned seats at this point and were told we would get our assignments about 10-45 minutes before the flight. When we went to the counter, they checked our documents, stamped our boarding pass and still no seats. To make a long story short, after MUCH confusion and slight rudeness on the part of their employees, the 8 of us were the LAST ones on the plane and were assigned whichever seats were leftover. I ended up in a middle seat, which did not recline, right next to a baby.... enough said.

BUT! All things have been on the up and up since then! We arrived in Accra very early on Saturday morning and were greeted by Justice - possibly the world's hardest working and most caring/patient individual. He took us to our home for the next 6 weeks - Catter's Hostel in Legon, which is a region just outside Accra. Our hostel is fantastic! Clean rooms, friendly staff and even air conditioning!!... The shower is touch and go, but as we're learning, you just have to go with the flow... who needs clean hair anyways, right? :)

After settling into our hostel we spent the rest of the first day making our first voyages out into Legon. First, Justice led us to the nearby mall - through the squatter camp, over the wooden planks covering the open sewer and across the high speed highway. Once we were there, we pretty much felt like we were back in Canada - the mall is very Western and full of people from all over - Westerners and Ghanaians alike. We're thinking we will be making many visits there over the next few weeks!! That night our second voyage took us to Chez Afrique - a nearby bar/restaurant with live music and delicious food. Here we had our first taste of Red Red!! Red Red is fried plantains accompanied by a hot chili sauce... mmmmmmm.

Sunday morning Justice took us to his Church. Ghanaians are lively in all aspects of life but especially in worship - they sang and danced and smiled and welcomed us in a big way - it was a good way to start the day! After that we ventured to two markets in Accra – one named for the first president, Kwame Nkrumah and the other called The Circle. Both were packed full of people and small make-shift huts. This was my first realization that I am in Africa. The kids came running after us yelling “Obronni! Obronni!” which means “white person”. The men suggested that I become their wife. And the women sold everything from Red Red, to the National dish of Fufu, to shoes, to textiles, and everything in between. It is also raging hot. Like, sticky, can't breathe, frizzy-hair kind of hot. Luckily we stopped on the street for some delicious coconut milk


Later, our new friend Mavis, who was acting as our tour guide for the day, took us to her Aunt’s house in Adenta, another region just outside Accra. Mavis’ Aunt, Uncle, cousins and a group of neighbourhood kids greeted us with open arms. We got to see how a typical middle class family lives here – Mavis’ uncle is a lawyer and her Aunt just finished her entrance exams for University. They welcomed us in and showed us their home and the maize they grow in their backyard. They also spend over an hour preparing Fufu from scratch and showing us how it is done. First they take ground-up cassava and coco yams, then use a huge wooden stick to pound the mixture until it turns into a sticky kind of dough. Then the dough (Fufu) is served in a soup. Ours was served with bush meat, crab legs and snail. So was it good? Ummmm…. The jury is out. Haha.

Yesterday we had an orientation at the University of Ghana, which is a beautiful campus. And today we spent our morning in Ghanaian Parliament watching the proceedings and then meeting with several of the MPs… the education has begun!!

Today, Justice took me to the Ark Foundation to introduce me to my supervisor and then Tuesday will be my first day of work at my placement – I still have no idea what I will be doing, so I will keep you posted!!


Soooo, we have been keeping very busy, and it feels like we have already been here for weeks. I miss everybody already, but I am having a FABULOUS time and I can’t wait to tell you all more about it

Love you all – talk to you soon!!